Rhode Island, USA

Despite the often harsh conditions, the waves of New England have been ridden for quite a long time. Postcards depicting people aquaplaning (an ancient form of bodyboarding) were circulating as early as 1902. However, the Northeast missed out on the pre-World War I demonstrations of Duke Kahanamoku and the Tom Blake hollow paddleboard era of the 1930s. By all accounts, it wasn’t until 1962 that Don ‘Crashboat’ Johnson returned to Rhode Island from California, bringing the first modern surfboard to New England.

The following year heralded the Beach Boy California surf music phenomenon, and the first surf shop soon appeared, opened by Howie ‘Goldie’ Goldsmith, 25 miles (40km) from the coast in Cranston, Rhode Island. Top West Coast surfboard brands like Gordon & Smith, Weber, and Hansen were sold in numbers until demand forced Goldie into local production. By 1965, his board factory was pumping out as many as 24 sticks a day, building models with names like Lahaina, Keokea, and Kailua.

That same year, the first contest was held in New England, at Narragansett Town Beach, where all the big East Coast teams showed up for a crack at the big prizes, which included automobiles and motorbikes. Goldie, who organized the contest, recalls: “The first year (1965), the town was unprepared for the thousands of surfing fanatics that came to watch the contest. The town actually ran out of food at all the restaurants and gas at the two gas stations!”

By 1967, there were three main pockets of surfing in RI, with five shops in Cranston, six in Narragansett, and two in Newport, along with a couple at the popular surf spot, Matanuck. Hobie had three different retail locations, and the respective teams enjoyed a fierce rivalry among their riders, which continues to this day between Newport and Narragansett surfers. Some of the standouts of this competitive era were Bill Bolenda, Brad Stoner, Bill Charboneau, Will Needs, Dan Sassey, and Cindy Palmer from Newport, while Narragansett was represented by Pat McNulty, Peter Pan, Charlie Johnson, Dennis Tully, Jerry Judge, Paul Buchannan, Frank Garceau, Ed Logee, Janice Chronley, and Sue Lloyd.

The surfing rage had peaked and was declining by 1969, due in part to the introduction of the shortboard. Many of the talented longboarders could not adapt to the new equipment and, consequently, dropped out of the scene. Things had come full circle by 1972, when there were no surf shops open in Rhode Island. Fortunately, Sid Abruzzi opened The Surf Store (now called WaterBros) in 1973, and Peter Pan opened The Watershed in Narragansett by 1975. Both stores are still going to this day.